Chahar Rustai Tepe: The Evidence of Bakun Period in the Northern Coast of the Persian Gulf

Many years have passed from the first excavations on the northern coasts of Persian Gulf, and according to the conducted studies in this regard, major problems still exist in the chronology and identifying settlement periods. Besides, there is no clear description about the social, economic, political or religious life of prehistoric societies. Most of the archeological studies in this region were focused on the historical and Islamic cultural periods. Few prehistoric sites have been identified and studied in the Boushehr province and in general, the northern coast of the Persian Gulf archaeologically; in this regard, most of researches is related to the Elamite period and after that, the historical and Islamic periods. The area of Chahar Rustai located in the Genaveh county is one of the few prehistoric sites were identified and studied in this region. The first season of archeological excavations in this site was conducted in the June of 2013 to determine the stratigraphy and delimiting and its results shows that the site of Chahar Roustaei is a seasonal and temporary settlement dating back to the fifth millennium BC, so is compared with the middle Bakun culture in this part of the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. The site is located on 2 km northwest of the village with the same name, beside the tomb of Imamzadeh Amir-Almomenin, on the district of Hayat Davood, Gonaveh County. The geographical coordinates of the area are N. 29° 33’ 12.3” and E. 50° 45’ 44.5” and it covers an area of seven hectares. The site is precisely is located on the ridges of very hard and dense sands. The mean sea level on its highest point reaches to 30 meters, the majority of the site is leveled by farmers and is utilized as farm lands. The southern part of the site is covered by trees, locally known as Kur, recently planted by the ministry of Agriculture of Iran. The local access to dirt road exactly passes through the middle of the site and another road passes from its northern side and the mentioned tomb is on the right. According to the conducted excavations on this site as well as the distribution of pottery on its surface, Chahar Rustai is a seasonal and temporary settlement during the fifth millennium BC and probably is belonged to people immigrated from the cultural sphere of Fars to this region. Also, Chahar Rustai was excavated in order to obtain a more precise understanding about the prehistoric cultures existed on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. Discovering the painted buff ware and comparing them with the ceramics of Tall-e Gap, Tall-e Bakun, Tol-e Bashi in the Kur river basin, Tall-e Nokhodi, Tall-e Rahman in the sivand river basin, Tall-e Nurabad in the Nurabad zone, Tall-e Mehr-ali in Iqlid and Tall-e Mashkarim in the district of Semirom show that Chahar-Rustai is one of the southern settlements of the culture which had been influenced by the dominating Bakun culture during the fifth millennium B.C.. Their ceramics clearly indicate that Chahar-Rustai settled during the middle Bakun period or the Gap period which can be dated between 4800 to 4500 B.C. During this excavation and throughout the detailed survey on their surrounding, no ceramic related to the more ancient or more recent period than middle Bakun was recovered. Given the its general characteristics and the distribution of ceramics, Chahar-Rustai site can be considered as a site settled by the nomads who were seasonal habitant of the area during the fifth millennium B.C. Furthermore, the marine products which were also discovered in other Bakun sites can definitely show a wide range of interactions among the coastal settlements including Chahar Rustai. Obviously, for gaining more accurate understanding about the prehistoric settlements and specially Bakun period, more comprehensive studies and surveys are required.